I’ve got an interesting question today from someone who asked if I believe drop shipping will stay a viable business model in the future? Or if I believe it will stop working at some point.
A while ago I looked up “drop shipping” on Google Trends.
And it turns out the interest for drop shipping in 2004 was equally high as it is in 2016. And it’s still working great right now.
You might have thought it would be saturated after 12 years.
But it turns out that drop shipping is just as much of a trend right now as it was 12 years ago. And it’s still working really well now, so I don’t see any reason why it should stop working anytime soon. Drop shipping has survived more than a decade of high interest.
However, here’s what might be changing:
1) Payment processors are getting more strict
Most payment gateways don’t like drop shipping business models and some of them don’t allow it. It’s getting harder to get approved for payment processors when running a drop shipping business.
This means the entry will get harder for newbies and beginners.
However, if you meet the necessary requirements, are tactical about it and choose the right payment gateways it won’t be a problem.
2) Facebook might crack down on drop shippers
Another possibility is that Facebook will crack down on free plus shipping offers or drop shipping in general sometime in the future. This is just speculation and there’s nothing that indicates it. However, it’s always good to plan for the worst case scenario.
Facebook ads are one reason why drop shipping is such an awesome business model right now: It’s pretty easy to drive sales using Facebook ads, which allows you to scale up with ads.
However, should Facebook’s ad costs tremendously increase in the future, which will likely be the case, drop shipping might get harder.
But there’s always new ad platforms that are cheaper.
Plus there’s multiple other ways you can drive traffic, such as influencer marketing and even search engine optimization.
That being said, I believe drop shipping is a great way to get your feet wet in the online business and internet marketing world. It’s the easiest and fastest way I’ve seen people start making money online.
I don’t think it’s a very mature business model though.
In my opinion, it makes sense to move on to other business models, start your own brand, create your own products and do something more meaningful than just shipping cheap Chinese goods to consumers in the USA and Europe. I think as we all get older and mature in business, doing something meaningful matters more.
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